Music of the Night
by Sinister Scribe
Summary: House and Cuddy are having a red hot affair...Cuddy just doesn't know it yet. ADULT THEMES AND LANGUAGE FROM THE START! Character bashing and my own particular brand of humour. Inspired by 'Phantom of the Opera'. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**ADUL CONTENT FROM THE GET GO KIDDIES! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT. I'M HEAR TO WRITE, IF I WANT A SHITTY OPINION I'LL GO TO WORK. **

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

**A/N: Okay kiddies, I know I've got about six other fanfics on the go and y'all are waiting patiently for updates but I just can't help myself. I was watching the 'Phantom of the Opera' last night (I love that film, the sight of Gerard Butler in that sexy suit and open shirt just does strange and marvellous things to me, every time I watch it I hope that Christine and the Phantom will get together…but alas, I'm an idiot and they ever do) and this fanfic just jumped into my head. Because I think we know deep down that Cuddy would NEVER get involved with House as long as they worked together, no matter how much she might want it. **

**One way around that is to have them both get so rat-arsed that they need a new liver and fall into bed with each other and the other…well you just gotta read and see!**

**I'm so pleased with this one and I don't give a shit that it's farfetched, that's my fucking style so deal with it! **

**Ahem. **

**Just so y'all know, I'm gonna try and post an adult-uncensored version of this on ** **soooo…if you're over eighteen and into that kind of thing, by all means, toddle yer little cyber-self over there and have a look see. **

**Updates on that as warranted. I've rambled enough. Enjoy and Review. **

**The Devil and the Swan**

Lisa Cuddy rolled onto her stomach and resisted the tug of wakefulness. She smiled sleepily to herself, she had been having the most wonderful dream. She finally gave up on slipping back to the dreamland paradise and flopped onto her back to stare at the ceiling.

A white and gold ceiling that didn't even remotely resemble the one in her bedroom. Her head shot up as she stared about herself in surprise.

Not a dream after all.

Did that mean that he had been real as well?

Cuddy looked to her side on the cream and gold bed and gasped softly when she saw the single red rose on the pillow beside her. It had been in his lapel last night, she remembered thinking it odd that he would wear a closed rosebud, just on the verge of opening instead of a full blossom.

A black silk ribbon was tied around the stem and the thorns had been carefully cut away so that she wouldn't hurt herself on it.

God…it finally hit her exactly what she had done. She had slept with a complete stranger, she didn't even know his full name.

_Dante. _

He had called himself Dante. Those flashing green eyes had smiled down at her as he had wooed her by the bar in the function suite down stairs. Cuddy lifted the rose to her lips and inhaled the sweet scent deeply as shiver went through her at the memory of him.

He hadn't been handsome in the traditional sense, not that she could have told much behind the red devil's mask that he had worn. The red ceramic fitted over the top half of his face with a pair of gold horns curling over his brow away from his dark slicked back hair. The skin around his eyes had been painted black so that his emerald eyes appeared to flash out at her like lamps in the dim lighting of the ballroom.

He had looked stunning in his Victorian all black tuxedo, long tailed coat, ebony and silver cane and blood red waistcoat to match his mask. His white shirt had been starched and high collared she remembered watching the pulse at his tanned throat, wishing she could reach out and trail her fingers over it.

Realising that she could as he invited her back to the room that they shared. This room. Cuddy flopped onto her back and smiled as she gathered all the memories of him closer to her like they were precious gems.

The way his voice deep and husky and slightly accented had husked over her skin and scored over her soul with passion. She trailed the rosebud over her lips the same way he had done the night before.

She had been drunk, that much she could admit to herself, but she had not been drunk beyond reason…or passion.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she remembered the passion.

When was the last time a man had made her scream like that? Beg for him to touch her, just the smallest caress, the lightest trailing of his fingers over her quivering flesh.

Had she ever had a lover like that?

Cuddy snapped herself out of her reverie as she looked to the clock. She swore viciously as she saw it was well after ten, she was woefully late for work. She swore again as her muscles tugged in protest as she rolled to her feet.

How many times had he, had they…?

She'd lost count somewhere after seven. A small smile tugged her lips even as she felt a stab of remorse at having no way to trace the man. She could look over the guest list for last night's masquerade fundraiser but it wouldn't really help, she had never seen his face. He hadn't taken of his mask and she had allowed the devil to take her.

Correction, she had begged him to take her. A blush scored her cheeks as she stepped under the hot spray of the shower in the en suite. Her hands filled with a pool of sweet smelling shampoo as she let her mind drift through the slightly hung over haze to the night before.

**...Flashback…**

Cuddy sashayed to the bar after trailing off the dance floor. Irritation lashed her as she purposefully strode away from the old lech that had been 'dancing' with her and using their close quarters as an excuse to paw her.

She slapped her gold beaded purse on the bar and caught the barman's eye from behind her gold and white mask. The things she did for her hospital…

"Please, Dr Cuddy, allow me to buy you a drink." Cuddy turned, a slightly incredulous look adorning her face as she stared at the man. Why wouldn't he take a fucking hint?

"No." She wasn't usually this sharp with potential donors but this man had, literally, rubbed her the wrong way and she was in no mood to whore herself anymore in the name of Princeton-Plainsboro.

"Nonsense." The aged man who was sixty if a day said to her in that typically 'old boy' patronising way.

Cuddy's blue eyes flashed fire as she glared out from behind her pale eye-mask. She opened her mouth to issue a blistering retort when a tall dark stranger in a demon's mask stepped up behind her and glowered at the older man with flashing green eyes.

"I believe the lady said 'no'."

Cuddy turned to look at her unlikely knight in shadowed tuxedo and blinked at the taller man.

"I don't think I asked for your opinion." Her ardent suitor sniffed and Devil smirked slightly in a way that was eerily familiar to Cuddy as he sipped his drink.

"I don't care, she said no and that should be enough. Go on your merry way and don't bother her again." Devil spoke pleasantly enough as the light from the chandelier high overhead glinted from his gold ceramic horns.

His hand trailed over her corseted waist and even through the steel boned material, Cuddy could feel the heat of his touch. "Now." He sounded pleasant enough but the snap of green flame in his eyes and the danger in his voice would have given a real demon sufficient pause, Cuddy thought.

The old man sniffed disdainfully and then moved away, presumably to annoy someone else.

Cuddy turned to the other man and smiled up into his mask's scowl. "Thank you…I don't believe we've met, I'm Lisa Cuddy."

The man blinked down at her in something akin to surprise and then smiled through it before Cuddy could properly identify the emotion. "Pleasure. Call me Dante." The man's husky voice trailed over her like raw silk and Cuddy repressed a shudder.

"All right, Dante, can I buy you a drink?" She offered as she angled her body towards him with a rustle of feathers and heavy material.

He smiled easily as his eyes trailed blatantly over her in an almost physical caress. "I think I would like that, Lisa." He smiled as he spoke with a faintly accented baritone that seemed to scrape her nerve endings in the most delicious way.

Lisa ordered two flavoured vodkas and toasted him with the red coloured liquid. "To unlikely knights." She smiled and sipped the liquor. The feeling that he was somehow familiar nagged at her but she brushed it aside.

"To saving beautiful swans." He toasted her in return and she smiled glad, for some reason, that he had recognised her costume.

"I know it's supposed to be an operatic theme but I just saw this and thought…why not?" Lisa smiled as he lead her with a hand on the small of her back to one of the more shadowed tables in the hall. She slid easily into the booth and tried not to enjoy it too much the way he slid right up next to her.

She could feel the black heat of his leg through the white material of her dress.

"It suits you, is _Swan Lake_ your favourite?" His eyes seemed to burn into hers, he was so attentive, she felt like the only woman in the room. She nodded absently.

"Yes, I'm not much for opera I'm sorry to say."

"Oh…I think I can convert you. There's something incredibly passionate about it, well, the good one's anyway. Some of them I feel like I'm being screamed at." He grinned at her in a suddenly boyish way as a stray curl of black air tumbled down over his mask.

Lisa reached up slowly and brushed it back without thinking too much about it. Their eyes met and Lisa felt like she'd been struck by lightening at the heat and energy that passed between them.

The waiter interrupted them and Dante reluctantly turned his eyes away from her to order two more drinks. The spell was broken and Lisa lent back into the plush burgundy seat, feeling somewhat foolish.

"So, would you be open to that?"

Lisa looked up, enjoying the sound of his voice so much that she had almost forgotten he was speaking. "Hmm?"

A flash of white was his smile in the shadows. "Would you let me take you to the opera, to see it for how it really is?"

Lisa looked at him for a moment, surprised at how courteous he was. When was the last time that a man had actually listened to her as a woman?

She found herself nodding and taking the next drink thirstily as it was brought to her. This man made her mouth feel dry while her blood seemed to thicken and hammer through her veins.

She hadn't felt like this in a long time…too long. She didn't protest when Dante handed over a few folded bills and gave the order that the drinks keep coming. The waiter's eyes widened at the money and he nodded eagerly before hurrying away to wait on them from the shadows.

Lisa frowned slightly as she watched the action and was shaken from her reverie by his voice again.

"Something troubles you?"

She flashed a grin at him. "It's just that you're so charming…I wonder if you really are the devil." She smiled to take any bite from the words and was gratified to see him throw back his head and laugh.

"For you, Lisa, I think I could be." He looked at her then and his gaze blazed with unhidden lust as he reached out with a leather gloved finger and trailed it over the curve of her bodice.

Lisa sipped her drink and swallowed hard at the sensations that rocked through her at his touch. "Dante, are you trying to seduce me?" She said with a somewhat shaky smile. He was almost frightening in his intensity.

Green eyes met blue in a slam of fire and a small kick of a smile tugged his lips. "No, Lisa, I would never dream of seducing you…" He drew in a breath and met her eyes again with a glint of something mischievous in there. "But I would_ love_ to fuck you."

Lisa stared at him. He said it so calmly and with such…compulsion behind his voice that she was momentarily frozen.

He tilted his head to the side. "Does that alarm you?"

She nodded slightly her eyes trained on his. She had the feeling that she couldn't pull away even if she wanted to.

"Does it excite you as well?" He asked in that same aphrodisiac voice.

Lisa licked her lips and threw back the next shot as it came. The man was like straight cut vodka.

Elegant and rough all at the same time. An unashamed kick in the throat that you were compelled to have again and again even when you knew you would lose control after a while.

"Yes." Her voice was breathy as a curve of satisfaction settled over his full lipped mouth.

"Good." He threw back his own shot and waited while another was poured from seemingly nowhere.

He drank that one too and Lisa followed his example knowing that she was reaching her limit and not caring in the slightest.

She felt the buzz of alcohol in her head making her a bit more daring than was usually required for the Dean of Medicine.

But Dante didn't know her as the Dean of Medicine to PPTH. She was simply Lisa to him.

She stilled as his black gloved hand reached up and swept a stray curl back behind her ear. He was suddenly so close that Lisa could feel the heat of his breath fanning her cheek; the heat of his body so close to hers and his spicy cool scent that filed her head seeming to make her drunker than with the vodka.

If asked later, Lisa wouldn't have been able to tell who moved first, if it had been her or the mysterious Dante.

It didn't matter. The outcome was the same, his mouth crashing down over hers in a wave of sensation that washed the rest of the world away. His hand spanned her throat and then trailed down to her bare shoulder as she shivered under the inhuman touch of his glove.

His other arm wrapped around her and tugged her closer to him so that her breasts were crushed against his chest. She moaned in ecstasy as his teeth nipped her lips and his tongue surged against her in the thrust and pull of the act to follow.

"Do you have a room here?" He asked as his teeth nipped along her jaw and down her throat in a pleasure of pain.

"No." She gasped and jerked in his arms, completely oblivious to the looks that they garnered from the nearby tables.

"Good. Come with me." Then he was on his feet and pulling her to hers. He barely gave her a chance to refuse him, not that she had any intention of doing so, as he lead her from the ballroom, uncaring of the curious glances that followed them.

He moved with a slightly uneven gait that Lisa put down to the alcohol, or the raging erection that she had felt pressed against her. She chuckled to herself as he pulled her into one of the elevators that seemed to be waiting on his command. She wasn't exactly Miss Elegance herself at the moment.

She didn't get much chance to dwell on it as he pushed her up against the wall of the elevator after stabbing the button for the larger suites. He seemed even more daunting in the harsh artificial light of the elevator. His horned head dipped to hers and she forgot about everything as his lips surged over hers and his body crushed her against the wall.

His hand slipped under the split in her skirt and brushed over the silk of her underwear. He ripped them off with barely restrained ferocity and dropped them to the floor, not caring if anyone would find them after they were gone.

Lisa arched against his leather dressed fingers and cried out as he stroked her intimately. Her nails scored over the fabric of his expensive jacket as she moaned against his mouth and rubbed herself against him.

The doors opened silently, a fact that he seemed to be aware of, but completely bypassed Lisa. She followed him blindly out of the elevator and only noticed the other shocked guest when Dante accidentally walked into her.

"Sorry, madam." He grinned at her, not apologetic in the least and then staggered to the doorway of his suite, jammed the key card in the lock and then shoved his would-be lover inside.

…**End Flashback…**

Lisa's blush intensified to a full body colouring as she remembered the horrified look on the old matron's face. She was suddenly glad that she had been wearing the feathered mask that lay in tatters by the doorway, still.

He had ripped it from her face in a fit of passion so that he could see her completely. When she had tried to remove his, he had smiled and denied her, even as he had manacled her wrists with on of his large gloved hands and spun her to bend over the desk by the doorway. She'd only had time to catch her reflection in the mirror above the table before he had grinned out of his demon's face and thrown her skirt up over her hips to pool in her lower back…

Lisa reached out and flipped the shower to cold. She shivered under the spray and finished with her hair before stepping from the cubicle. She stared somewhat forlornly at the empty bedroom.

Damn, who was that masked man?

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House groaned as he rolled to a sitting position in his bed. His hand went to his leg and he rubbed his wound absently as he dry swallowed a vicodin. He rubbed his eyes and frowned when his fingers came away with black smudges over them. He lurched to the mirror, pleased that his leg had withstood its short stint without the cane last night as he moved to inspect the damage on his face.

His eyes fell on something red on his bedside table and he frowned until he recognised the gold and red devil mask from the night before.

The events of the masquerade slammed into him like a truck and he stared in dawning horror as he realised exactly what 'Dante' had done.

"Oh shit." He murmured as he mentally reviewed. She couldn't have _really_ not recognised him, surely?

Of course, his disguise had been fairly fucking spectacular.

Emphasis on the 'fucking' part.

He had gone to the fundraiser with the intent of pissing her off. She had demanded that he go, and he'd lost a bet, so his twisted sense of honour had demanded that he go.

He had decided to go in such a complete disguise that no one would know it was him. He would be charming and smile in all the right places and not tell the assembled idiots exactly what he thought of them. So he would still fulfil his bet, just that Cuddy wouldn't know it. The only thing better than disobeying Cuddy, was obeying her and her not knowing it.

He'd even brought a freaking spray that would change the pitch of his voice and spoken with an accent for Christ's sake!

Since when did fooling the boss involve dragging her upstairs for mind-blowing sex?

House sighed as he headed for the shower. She had to have recognised him.

The water splattered across his chest and he groaned as the hot spray soothed muscles that he hadn't used in a while. His eyes felt gritty from the contacts that he had worn last night.

He smiled slightly. It had been pretty spectacular though. Maybe if he asked nicely she would be up for a rematch.

He laughed at the turn his thoughts had taken and finished his shower. He was already late for work, and no doubt his little hell-cat would be ready to tear a strip off of him when he got in.

Hold the phone; she wasn't _his_…

House had a rather sinking feeling that Dante was going to get him in a lot of trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:Sorry, sorry, sorry for not updating sooner but the computers been a right bastard and buggered itself up beyond belief, it wouldn't even connect to the internet. So I have updated at the soonest operchancity and here we are. **

**I couldn't even get on to inform y'all I'm not dead or anything…which could have been awkward but there you go. **

**Okay kiddies, I have good news and I have bad news. Good news is I finally know where I'm going with this damn fiction!! **

**Bad news; I'm having a lot of bother with the 'Halloween Challenge' fic, so I'm actually thinking of just scrapping it and concentrating on these other fictions that I have going. Sorry, but I just want the stuff I'm posting to be worth the read. I've kind of gotten to a standard that I don't want to drop below so…meh. I don't really know how else to explain it.**

**Further bulletins on that as warranted. **

**Uuuuh, what else?**

**Smut in the next chapter for all you junkies!!!!**

**Read and review. **

**Red Roses and Sealed Letters**

House blinked down at the latest assistant outside Cuddy's office. It was a good thing his boss's door hinges were so well maintained because the women (and guy) the agency kept on sending never stayed long. Something that House had nothing to do with, he was sure.

"What do you mean she's not in yet? It's nearly twelve."

The assistant, who had actually been trying to earn her paycheque, stopped her fingers from dancing over the keys of her keyboard and reached up slowly to remove the pen from her teeth. "Dr House, I do realise that you hold very little respect for just about anyone, but I assure you that I am not only capable of telling the time but knowing where my boss is. It does happen to be my job."

"Where is she then?" House replied as if she hadn't spoken. She was a bit different this one. Black hair, pale skin and dark gothic make up along with her clothes. Black silk shirt and ripped black jeans. Smart casual indeed.

"Not. Here." She reiterated.

House ground his teeth. His dastardly plans were being thwarted.

"Okay, let's try this again. Can you contact Dr Cuddy for me?"

The assistant rolled her eyes as she went back to her typing. "Possibly."

House waited and resisted the urge to scream when she didn't move. "Well?"

The assistant flicked him a dismissive glance with her steel grey eyes. "Well, what?"

"Will you contact her for me?"

"Perhaps." She kept typing and House wondered briefly how to get through to her.

"Are you going to or not?"

She turned to him and pursed black lips. "Hmm…no."

"Why not?" House demanded as he slumped into the couch opposite the woman's desk. He wasn't leaving until he got to wind up Cuddy about last night.

"Because I'm busy."

"Look…what's your name again?" House decided to try the charm, you never knew when it might work.

"Don't worry, I forgot your name too." She answered barely looking up at him.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot." House tried again.

"I hear that's quite painful for you." The woman shot back without missing a beat and House actually gaped at her.

"Touché." He had to admit, that was quite a good one.

"I'll be here all week. Try the veal." The assistant deadpanned as she continued to type.

"Okay, how about you just let me into Cuddy's office and I'll wait there for her?" House tried.

"Here's a novel concept, why don't you actually do some work?" Assistant shot back.

House gritted his teeth.

It was at that moment, as House was working up a truly virulent response to the uppity young miss behind the desk, that Cuddy sailed past in all her business suited glory.

"Talia, will you contact the hotel and ask them for the guest list from last night's fundraiser please?"

"Sure thing, boss. Coffee's on its way." Talia answered as she picked up the phone and began flipping through the rolodex for the number she wanted. House glared at the abrupt about-face of attitude and then limped into the office after Cuddy.

Cuddy turned to see him making his entrance and swallowed a groan. "What do you want?" She demanded. She was in no mood for him today. She was too busy wallowing in the afterglow from last night.

"Peace and goodwill to all men." House grinned at her and flopped onto the chair opposite her as he none-too subtly checked her out. She was looking rather sexy today he noted. Fitted black suit jacket with nothing but her bra on underneath, he guessed, prerequisite little black skirt which was a few inches shorter than usual, hair wild and tumbling down her back and a rather eye-catching red silk scarf around her throat.

"Really? Well, I have that in for about three this afternoon, I'll let you know how it pans out." Cuddy dismissed him as she sat behind her desk and booted up her computer.

House tilted his head. Something was wrong with this picture. He frowned as he tried to figure out what it was.

He blinked as an idea bloomed inside his head.

She didn't recognise him!

Well, she recognised him as House, obviously, but she didn't connect him with Dante. A lecherous grin spread across his face. "How was the fundraiser last night?" He asked as innocently as he could.

He watched as her hand stilled slightly on the computer mouse before she flicked a glance to him and then resumed whatever it was she was doing. "Fine." She answered as nonchalantly as possible.

House's grin widened. "You didn't meet anyone…interesting?" House prodded.

"No more so than usual. Speaking of…" She turned to glare at him. "You were supposed to be there." She accused.

House shrugged. "Steve had a head cold, I had to stay home and nurse him back to health. Couldn't be helped."

"I'm sure." Cuddy said dangerously.

"Anyway, you're avoiding the question. Rumour has it that you found someone very interesting to…talk with last night." House grinned as he jammed as much innuendo into the statement as he could.

Cuddy went still and then turned to look at him with as much dignity as she could. "And if I did?"

House shrugged. "Hope you practiced safe sex, you don't know where this guy has been." He pointed out ruthlessly, wondering if he should tell her and enjoy the look of absolute horror that would spread across her face. He could envision the way she would splutter and probably threaten to sue for…what?

Too many orgasms between colleagues?

House's grin widened as he watched her eyes widen. He frowned then. Ah, shit they hadn't…

Well, _that_ was a wrinkle.

Cuddy opened her mouth to issue what would, no doubt, be a blistering retort when the door opened on the heels of a brief knock. Cuddy looked over his shoulder as Talia walked in with a sheaf of papers and two cups of coffee from the shop down the street.

"Guest list from the fundraiser, double strength latte and black with cream and sugar." Talia handed the papers to Cuddy and one of the cups of coffee before handing the other into House's surprised hand.

She flashed a grin at him before disappearing out of the door again. House turned back to Cuddy who was busily scanning the guest list. "Is your latest assistant bipolar or something?"

Cuddy looked up with a small frown as she sipped her latte. "No, why?"

"Well, she was mean as hell to me a minute ago and now she'd giving me coffee."

"Were you polite to her…? Never mind, stupid question. Talia won't do anything unless you say please and thank you." Cuddy stated flatly before turning back to her papers with cute little frown between her brows.

Whoa! House slammed on his mental brakes as he cautiously sipped his coffee. Just the way he liked it. Cuddy wasn't cute anything. Sure she was sexy and an absolute hellcat in the sack but not cute.

House looked her over again and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his jeans suddenly too tight as he remembered their acrobatics last night.

"So, who's the mystery man?" House prodded.

Cuddy looked up and levelled a glare at him. "None of your goddamn business." She said slowly as if to make it clear.

"Aww, but Cuddy, inquiring minds want to know." He whined.

"Do you want more clinic?"

"Huh? What? No! How did we get to that?" He demanded as he back-pedalled furiously.

"Well, you seem to have so much spare time in here annoying me that I just figured you must be bored. Clinic would fill your time nicely." She smiled ruthlessly.

House stood with as much dignity as he could muster and clutched his coffee to his chest. "Fine, if you're going to be mean about it, then I'll just go and get Wilson to tell me." He threatened.

"Go ahead, I seem to remember that he was rather involved with a nubile young tree at the time." Cuddy said dryly as House scowled and left her office.

He grinned to himself and made a point of thanking Talia for his coffee as he went. Looked like Dante might be making a few more appearances.

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Cuddy sighed wearily as she made her way back to her office. She stifled a yawn and had to admit that maybe she was getting a trifle too old to be replacing a good solid eight hours sleep with a good solid eight hours of sex.

Wait, no she wasn't. A grin spread across her features as an image of burning green eyes flashed to the forefront of her mind.

_Never_ too old for that.

She frowned into the folder she was scanning as she realised probably not. She needed to get out more.

She was stopped from entering her office by a word from Talia.

"Boss?"

Cuddy turned her hand on the door handle and a slight frown on her face. "Yes?"

Talia waved a small cream envelope at her by way of answer and Cuddy took it from her. She flipped it over and her frown deepened as she saw the red and gold wax seal in the shape of a mask on the back of the parchment style envelope.

"You didn't open it?" Cuddy asked as she slipped a nail under the seal and broke the envelope open.

"Well, considering the, ahem, package it came with, I thought it was private." Talia explained with a fidget of her pen as she watched her boss.

Cuddy arched a brow. "Package?"

"They're in you office." Talia pointed with her pen and a small smile.

Cuddy turned and pushed her office door open and stepped through blinds that she didn't remember closing. Cuddy gaped as the riot of colour that had become her office assaulted her retinas.

Roses.

Roses covered her office. Deep red through to almost white-pink scattered in urns around her floor, petals strewn across her desk, small bunches tied with black ribbons to her light fittings, flower heads mixed with vanilla scented candles on her coffee table…they were everywhere.

"Oh my." Cuddy swallowed convulsively as she ripped the envelope the rest of the way open and scanned the flowing handwriting, that looked vaguely familiar, that spread across the page.

Heat seared Cuddy's cheeks as she read the words and she licked her lips nervously.

"Holy shit."

Cuddy jerked around to see Wilson standing behind her. She stuffed the envelope and letter into her folder and snapped it shut. "What can I do for you, Dr Wilson?" She pasted a smile on her face.

"Sign this for me." He handed her a chart. As he took in all of the roses littering her office. "Damn, are these real? What did he do?" Wilson stroked a finger over the nearest rose bud and raised his eyebrows as he realised the roses were indeed all real.

"Oh, you romantic you." Talia stated dryly. "Dr Cuddy, a Dante phoned for you while you were away."

Cuddy's head snapped up as she looked to her assistant and nearly threw the chart at Wilson. "Did he leave a message?"

"Yeah, he said," Talia scanned the paper in her hand. "He would like you to come to dinner with him at the hotel tonight at seven, your hotel room." Talia handed the message to Cuddy and Wilson did a very poor job of masking his curiosity.

Cuddy scanned the paper and let a small smile curl her lips. "Thank you, Talia."

"No problem." Talia shot a look at Wilson and then skirted him to go back to her desk.

"So this is the mystery man that House was on about?"

Cuddy snorted, letting the younger oncologist know exactly what she thought about that.

"Well, have a good time." Wilson smiled at her as he left her office.

Cuddy could practically hear him skip off to House's office to share the juicy gossip.

Ah, well, it's not as if she was bothered. A slow smile spread over her features at the thought of seeing Dante again. She shivered as heat poured through her at just the memory of his voice, his hooded green eyes.

She was going to have a good time, alright.

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	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am going to kill this computer.**

**Anyhoo, I don't know how I really feel about this chapter, when I first wrote it, I was quite pleased with it and I've tweaked it a little since then but…meh. I dunno, I think it's all right but I'm not as enthused with it as I once was. **

**However, that could have something to do with the insane urge that I have to put my foot through my computer, but I've been wrong before. **

**Thanks ka-hunners for all the fabby reviews that you guys gave me for chappie 22 of 'I'll Come Back', absence does make the heart go fonder, you guys are so fabby-ding. I've nearly finished writing chapter 23 so that'll be up as soon as I can get it uploaded…so next spring is good for you guys, right? **

**Just kidding, I think I'm getting a laptop for my Christmas pressie so normal service will be resumed after the yuletide season at the latest. **

**Sorry, but that's as soon as I can manage it. **

**ADULT CONTENT!!! That means smut for our regular viewers. I am not even going to bother trying to make this fanfic halfway decent in the censored sense cause I really cannae be arsed. **

**Read and review…not that I'll be able to read them or anything but do it anyway. **

**Deep Trouble**

Lisa fidgeted nervously as she walked along the corridor to the room that Dante and she had shared. She refolded her jacket over her arm and fought the urge to bolt the opposite direction down the corridor.

No. For once, she was going to do something fun. Something wild and sexy and free and she was going to hang the consequences.

A small smile curled her full lips as she thought about what else was hung…she was jerked back to reality as a familiar door loomed in front of her.

She shifted from one heeled foot to the other and then raised her fist and rapped sharply on the painted wood before she could think better of it.

A voice issued in her head, informing her that it wasn't too late to make a run for it.

She told the voice to shut the hell up and straightened as the door flew open.

"Lisa."

She could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke and all rational thought took a vacation from her fevered mind. She stepped into his widened arms, which she was sure had just been holding the door open.

"Dante." She smiled broadly as she tangled her fingers through his impeccably slicked hair and pulled his mouth down over hers. He made muffled sound of pleasured surprise, but recovered well and clicked the door shut behind her. Her jacket and briefcase thumped to the floor in favour of loosening her fingers to trail down the side of his face.

She had been late at the office because House had been an ass to some patient and they had wanted to sue and…she didn't really want to think about it anymore.

She pulled away breathlessly and frowned as she trailed one manicured finger over the edge of the black leather mask on his face, covering him from the tip of his nose to his hairline.

"A personal choice," his voice husked over her lips with his hot breath and she shivered at the sensation. "Do you mind?"

Lisa looked into his green eyes as she considered the question. His arm loosened on her waist as she pulled away slightly to examine the mask further. "And if I do?"

He released her with a heavy sigh and stepped away. "Then you're free to go."

Lisa let her eyes flick to the door and then back to Dante as he lounged against the wall. Her agile mind turned over the problem, twisting it this way and that until she had scrutinised it from every possible angle. He could be scarred, she mused, or maybe he suffered from chronic shyness. Hell, maybe he just didn't want her to see his face.

She had once dated a guy with a foot fetish, granted the relationship hadn't lasted long after he had demanded she wear her heels to bed but hey, as dysfunctions went, it was pretty tame. As long as he didn't bring out the whips she was fine with it.

She worried her lower lip between her teeth and looked at him again. Despite his relaxed stance she could see the tension in his gaze, he _wanted_ her to stay. A grin curled her mouth as she reached out casually and hooked her fingers into his belt, tugging him sharply against herself. "Good thing I don't mind then." She laughed as he grinned wolfishly and kissed her again.

He steered her into the room and towards the bed as his fingers deftly released her from her black suit jacket and let it crumple to the thickly carpeted floor. Her hands took care of his shirt with equal ease and she smiled around his mouth as her fingers splayed over the warm expanse of his chest.

Her bra and skirt were further casualties to his assault before he tipped her onto the bed with a gleam in his emerald eyes and followed her down onto the plush comforter. He removed her shoes with careful attention before skimming his long fingered hands over the length of her legs in a shimmer of sensation and then down again, along with her panties.

He smiled at the sight of nothing but the faint light from the bedside lamp on her skin. "Gorgeous." He murmured against her skin as he kissed his way from her belly to her breasts and then to her mouth.

She smiled at the compliment and then moaned as he nipped her lips and moved his hands over her. She arched off the bed towards him and made a disgruntled sound when her skin encountered fabric.

"Well, this needs to come right off." She grinned as she shoved at his shirt and succeeded in pushing it from his arms. Her fingers attacked his belt buckle next and she laughed in triumph as she shoved his pants and shorts down over his lean hips.

Heat suffused her body and made her drunk with passion as he stroked hot hands over her back and nudged her legs apart with his hips.

He bit her ear gently and spoke to her with a growl. "Now?"

"Oh, yes! Now." She demanded as she wrapped her legs high on his hips and welcomed him inside her with a sharp cry of pleasure. He lunged into an erogenous rhythm that had her moaning as she gripped his biceps with a sharp bite from her nails.

Dante groaned as he buried his face in her hair and inhaled the scent of her shampoo while muttering something in Russian that may have meant absolute nonsense but sounded sexy as hell.

He lifted her torso with one strong hand between her shoulder blades and sucked a spiked nipple into his mouth with a swirl of his tongue. Lisa tossed her head back and screamed as she fisted her fingers in the expensive bed sheets. Her climax exploded inside her in a firebomb of pleasure and she shuddered beneath his hot mouth and skilled fingers.

He chuckled as she moaned and sagged in his arms. "Oh no, delicious-mine, we're not done yet. Not nearly." He smiled down at her as she panted, feeling the simmer of heat begin anew low in her belly. Her eyes were heavy as she looked up at him, a small smile kicking her lips.

He looped one strong arm under her knee and lifted her body to a new angle before he moved again. Lisa gasped and her mouth fell open as a whole new set of sensations were sent into a fantastic cascade through her nervous system.

His mouth seared over hers again and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she sucked on his lip and tangled her tongue with his.

She felt like her entire body was on fire as he moved inside her. She scraped her nails down his back and had him growling as he moved more urgently with her.

His grip tightened on her hip and she swallowed his shout of pleasure as they crashed together in stunning pleasure.

He collapsed against her, swearing softly as he buried his face in her hair again and panted heavily in recovery. Lisa let an arm flop over her eyes as she came down from her own high with a smile on her lips.

The man was amazing.

She felt him move to support himself on his elbows and she could feel him looking down at her.

"Are you all right?"

She laughed shortly at the question and the genuine concern in his voice. "Very." She smiled but didn't open her eyes. She was too busy trying to form coherent thought.

"You're sure?"

Her smile widened as he fussed with one of her curls. "I'm sure."

He stroked a finger down her neck and along her collar bone, counting the pearls around her throat, now the only thing that she had on. "I'm a lot bigger than you are, are you sure you're fine?"

She finally opened her eyes on a slight frown to see him fidgeting nervously with her hair again. "Dante, I am _fully_ aware that you are a large man and if you give me a minute then we can do it al over again just to prove how fine I am." She grinned at him and pressed a kiss to his lips so that he would stop frowning.

He grinned at her, finally convinced and then simply stared at her. His eyes devouring every inch of her.

She found this slightly uncomfortable, that he would look at her so intensely, as if trying to memorise every detail of her face. He caught her look and gave a small sheepish smile. "Hungry?" He asked and rolled to the side to release her from the weight of his body.

At the mention of food, Lisa realised how empty her stomach was. "Starving. What do you have?" She rolled onto her side and propped her head up on her hand.

He was momentarily distracted by the sight of her stretched out like some satiated sex-goddess on his bed and had to blink several times and shake his head before he could convince the blood to leave his pants and go to his other head.

He cleared his throat and rolled to the edge of the bed. He pulled his slacks back up and then tugged the conveniently placed trolley closer. She hadn't noticed it before. The man had a way about him that was incredibly distracting.

She crawled over to look over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his neck. "Ooh, champagne, you saw me coming." She grinned as she reached for the chilling bottle and poured into the two flutes on the end of the trolley. She marvelled at how comfortable she felt around him, how relaxed she was, she felt like she'd known him for years.

He turned to look at her where her chin rested on his shoulder and she could tell that he was arching a brow at her, even through the mask. "Woman, if you keep rubbing yourself against me like that, we'll never eat."

She grinned mischievously and rubbed deliberately against him.

He growled and turned to her with intent but she skidded playfully backwards across the bed with a chuckle, careful not to spill her champagne. She decided to play nice and shrugged on his discarded shirt to placate him, not by much though, as she left it completely unbuttoned.

His eyes travelled over her in a caress that was almost physical and had goose bumps rising along the length of her body. He reached out and circled her ankle with his fingers and then tugged her easily across the bed.

Her brows rose at the show of casual strength and he looped an arm around her waist as he lifted something to her mouth for her to eat. She frowned at it before ducking her head and taking a bite.

"Mmm…" She grinned as she ate the small pizza type-thing.

"Good?" He smiled as he popped the rest of the morsel into his mouth and munched happily.

"Mm-hmm." She took a sip of her champagne and then leaned over to casually lick a smudge of cream-cheese from the corner of his mouth. "Missed a bit." She smirked as the heat flared in his eyes.

"Oh, so that's how it is?" He arched a look at her as his accent did marvellous shivery-type things to her body.

"That's how it is." She teased him right back.

He grunted a non-committal noise and then lifted his own champagne flute to his lips. She gasped as he tipped it deliberately and the cold liquid fell with a fizz onto her chest. He grinned lecherously as he pushed at her back to arch her towards his mouth.

"Oops," he dipped his head towards her breast with a glint in his eye. "Missed a bit." He lamented and she gasped, her own champagne flute clattering back onto the trolley as his tongue laved over her skin, swallowing the droplets of the drink greedily and hunting for more.

Lisa writhed in his arms as he licked the remaining champagne from her heating skin and she moaned in anticipation as he reached out casually for the bottle of liquor without lifting his mouth from where it was currently situated.

Lisa let her eyes flutter closed in delight as she realised it was going to be a long night.

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House sat by the massive, now extremely used, bed. He smiled as he looked over his lover and sighed as he reached into his new suit pocket and swallowed a vicodin.

Damn, if she wasn't wearing him out.

Luckily he hadn't had to walk anywhere last night, except for from the door to the bed, and even he could manage that without his cane. Hiding the limp was all right as long as he kept her distracted, which was nothing if not pleasurable. He rubbed his leg absently, hiding the scar when they were in bed together was more difficult, but she didn't appear to notice the way he redirected her hands if they wondered there, or how he rarely let the blanket slip below his hips. He blinked rapidly at the contacts in his eyes. They got a little gritty if he wore them for too long. The mask was hot and uncomfortable and his throat stung from using the spray again.

He watched how the light spilled from a chink in the curtains across her splayed hair and smiled. Somehow, it was worth it.

She was curled half on her side, one arm stretched towards him and the other curled up at her temple. Her long sooty lashed were dark crescents against the porcelain of her relaxed face as she slept with a slight pout on her swollen lips.

She could have been posed by a professional photographer by the picture she made with her dark hair fanned out across the cream pillows and the contrast of her skin against the deep green comforter on the bed.

The sheet covered one breast and let a dark nipple peek out from the other. One long curving leg was hooked around the covers as if in preparation to kick them off when she had to wake up.

He had to go and he hated to leave her.

He heaved a sigh and scraped his fingers across the growth on his jaw. He had shaved again for her last night, but already he was beginning to look a bit grizzly. He had brushed his hair back into the slick style she was used to seeing Dante with and pulled on one of the new suits that he had filled Dante's closets with.

Damn, this was harder than he thought. He hadn't thought much about how it would bother him when she cried out for Dante instead of him. He knew they were one and the same guy, but she wanted the slick and rich Dante. Not the scruffy and antisocial Greg.

He sat back in his chair and scowled behind the mask. It shouldn't bother him. He shouldn't feel bad about playing her like this…but he did. At the same time, he couldn't bring himself to stop either.

It was suddenly an imperative for him to keep seeing her. Keep hearing her laugh, keep her looking at him in that sultry sexy way, keep having her hands reach for him in the night.

Oy, he was in trouble.

He stood slowly and limped to the bed and sat on the edge of the massive mattress. The bed dipped under his weight and she shifted closer to him. He couldn't resist reaching out and trailing a finger along the sweep of her cheek. Her eyes fluttered as his touch roused her.

"Dante?" Her voice was sleepy and sexy and tightened his gut in lust even as it tightened his jaw in irritation at her using that name.

Deep trouble.

"Yes, I have to go now." He kept the accent easily, being fluent in Russian helped.

She frowned and stretched her jaw cracking wide in a yawn. "What time is it?"

He stroked a curl of her hair out of her face, telling himself that it was okay to do it because that's what Dante would do. "A little before six, you can go back to sleep, I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I went."

She appeared to rouse herself a bit more but he stopped her from sitting up.

"I've brought you something to wear to work today, so you don't have to rush home before going there."

She settled back into the pillows with a dreamy sigh. "That's nice." She yawned expansively again. "Will I see you again tonight?"

He hesitated slightly but then his mouth moved before his mind was fully agreed on the decision. "Of course, meet me here again?"

Deep, deep trouble.

She nodded without opening her eyes snuggled closer to him. Her eyes flew open and she grinned. "Kiss me." She demanded and reached up for him.

He smothered a groan as he bent helplessly to her and covered her mouth with his own. She tasted fabulous and he wrapped his arms around her as she kissed him back with fervour.

He broke away from her reluctantly and stroked her hair as he settled her back into the bed and tucked her in again like he would a child. "Go to sleep." He ordered and she smiled at him before it was broken by another yawn and she let herself obey him.

He blew out a sigh and adjusted his slacks as he stood, on the upside, the material was a lot more forgiving than denim.

He looked back at her one more time before limping to the closet and removing the cane he had stashed there. He stepped out into the corridor and removed the mask before shoving it into his pocket.

Scrubbing a hand over his face again, he heaved in a sigh and limped to the elevators.

Deep, deep, _deep_ trouble.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, the long awaited, and much salivated over, chapter four. I finally, finally, finally, got something written down that was actually half-way worth reading and I thank you for doggedly refusing to let me forget about this fic. **

**I'm quite amazed that you all liked it so much because I thought it was such a flawed concept but I'm immensely glad you did. **

**This has literally taken me weeks to write, I started writing it on my old busted computer and haven't finished it until right this moment. It suddenly just pounced on me and started flying out of the keyboard faster than my fingers could type…so mistakes may abound but I'm gonna update for ya anyway since you've all been so good and supportive with the rest of the drabble I chose to post. **

**BTW, I have worked out the paternity in 'How Could They Not?' but it's my little secret, I'm just glad to keep y'all guessing. **

**Anyway, read and review, coz I know yer gonna. Prinnie…you are gonna scream yer wee head off. **

**Let that be a warning to you. **

**Chapter 4: What to do? **

House stood out on his balcony and sipped his coffee that Cameron had poured him. He swirled it in his red cup and looked at it with wry twist of his lips before taking another gulp.

He saw Wilson moving around in his office but did not turn to see his friend.

He placed his hand on the balcony wall and lent forward until his arms were taking most of his weight. His leg didn't hurt all that badly, but he somehow felt that it should. He heaved in a breath and drained his coffee before clinking the cup back down onto the wall and abandoning it there.

This was stupid.

He should just not meet her again. He should just have 'Dante' disappear off into the sunset never to be heard from again. He should stop agonising about whether or not she was wearing his gift to work. He should stop wanting to check if she still had the roses that he had sent yesterday.

He should…what?

What should he do?

"Well, that depends on what you want."

House jumped and looked wildly around to see Wilson jumping easily over the partition between their balconies. "What?" House demanded of his friend, a wild look in his eyes.

Wilson stopped at the panicked look in his friend's gaze. "You asked what you should do, I'm just trying to offer some advice is all." Wilson explained.

House rocked back on his heels, surprised that he had spoken the last part of his internal conflict aloud. He grunted instead, not knowing what he should say. He hated this, this unsettling feeling of indecisiveness.

"So…you wanna tell me about it?"

House looked over at Wilson as he stood leaning this side of their partition, one foot folded behind the other and his arms crossed over his ironed shirt. "No." House said automatically, he'd have thought that old Jimmy-boy might have figured out that he didn't talk about these things.

"It's a woman, isn't it?"

House scowled. "Why is it always women? You, my friend, have a one track mind." He accused as he limped away and back into his office. He sent the team scurrying on some errands but Wilson wasn't nearly as easy to get rid of.

"Because women confuse you. You can figure out nearly any medical problem unknown to man if given enough time but women, and relationships for that matter, are completely beyond you." Wilson informed him somewhat cheerily.

House did not respond but picked up his thinky-thinky ball instead. He bounced it on his palm and then decided to toss it up high into the air and catch it instead. Wilson's hand shot out and snagged the ball mid-fall and House shot forward in his seat.

"Hey!"

"So, what did you do to her?" Wilson tucked the ball away from his friend and resumed his line of questioning now that he had his full and undivided attention.

"You know me, Jimmy, nothing she didn't scream for." House bobbed his eyebrows and dug another tennis ball out of his desk to play with.

Wilson blinked. "Over-share."

House shrugged. "You asked."

Wilson sighed, he had at that. "Fine. Suffer by yourself. I just thought you might be sick of that by now." Wilson tossed the ball back to House and left the office with long irritated strides.

House watched him go and then thumped the ball onto the desk with a scowl.

He _hated_ it when other people were right.

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Cuddy yawned as she tried to focus on her paper work. She was so tired…a slow smile lit her features, it was a good tired though. The kind of ache that hurt so good.

Cuddy lifted tired, and slightly hung-over, eyes to the door as Talia strode in with an armload of photocopies and memos.

"Heya, boss, how's tricks?" Talia grinned at her as she thumped the memos down on the desk, she didn't fail to notice the wince from Cuddy at the sudden noise. "That good, huh?"

"Do you mind speaking a little…lower?" Cuddy gingerly massaged her temples as Talia grinned.

"Nice threads, were they a gift?" Talia demanded to know as she flipped open her pad and whipped out a pen.

"You're going to take notes?" Cuddy asked on a carefully measured frown. The trick was to not use facial muscles unless absolutely necessary.

"Well, not on your wild night on the town, I'm not paid enough. There was, however, mention of dictating letters to potential donors this morning. If you can remember that far back." Talia grinned as she neatly folded her legs over the edge of the desk.

"Har-har." Cuddy deadpanned and managed to smother the groan at the _thought_ of dictating letters.

"Anyways, you're avoiding the question, were the snazzy new clothes a gift from he of the roses?" Talia prodded again.

Cuddy smirked as she nodded and resisted the urge to get up and spin around to show off said new clothes. She wore a deep blood red shirt with a high collar emphasising the column of her neck and just how deep her cleavage could really go and a black-white pinstriped jacket over a long skirt. At first the skirt appeared to be perfectly demure until she moved, the subtly striped fabric had been cut into strips with a thin see through material binding them together so that they revealed long flashes of her legs as she walked.

"Aaw, the romance!" Talia grinned and then flourished her pen over the pad. She seemed to stop suddenly as if something occurred to her. She tapped her pen against the edge of her pad as the smile slipped from her face. "Uh, Dr Cuddy?"

Cuddy's head came up. Talia was only the latest in a long line of assistants that swung through the seemingly revolving doors of PPTH, but already Cuddy had picked up on some of the girl's more obvious nuances. For example; when Talia was feeling playful and knew exactly what she was doing she referred to Cuddy as 'Boss' but when she was unsure or annoyed at Cuddy she became 'Dr Cuddy'. Cuddy liked Talia, she was one of the few people that would either ignore House or stand up to him and was, quite frankly, worth every penny of her ridiculously high paycheque for that. Cuddy sat back in her chair and tilted her head at the younger woman.

"Yes, Talia?"

"I know I've only been here a few days, and tell me if this is none of my business but…" Talia trailed off, as if unsure whether or not she should continue.

Cuddy frowned a little, it was very unlike Talia not to finish something she had started. "Go on." She urged, more than a little curious at the moment.

"The…thing, between you and Dr House." Talia began hesitantly as she fidgeted with the edge of her legal pad, not even daring to look up at Cuddy. The Dean was suddenly struck with exactly how young Talia was, according to her resume she was just out of school, and at this moment she looked every one of her young years.

"Has he done something to upset you?" Cuddy asked dangerously, suddenly feeling very over protective towards her little Goth teenager.

Talia lifted her dark rimmed eyes and shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no, it's just that…with the nurses station right out there I hear a lot of things." Talia waved her hand out the office to indicate.

"Things like…?" Cuddy prompted her when she trailed off into silence again.

"Things like…you and Dr House." Talia forced out and Cuddy arched a brow.

"House and I, what?"

Talia suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Well, the nurses know that I hear a lot of things since I sit outside your office day in and day out and they always come to me for the juicy details so I was just wondering what you wanted me to say?"

Cuddy was now completely lost. "Talia, I don't know what you mean."

"Well, I understand you wanting to keep the relationship between you two private, but I don't know what to say when they ask me. I need to know if you want me to lie or not."

Cuddy blinked. She felt like she'd just broken a glass on the floor and the light had gone out when she was stuck without shoes. "Talia, what _exactly_ are you asking me?" Cuddy attempted to clarify.

Talia huffed a long sigh out and blew her hair out of her eyes, obviously getting more and more uncomfortable as the conversation went on. "Alright, House is Dante, I know that, you know that, what I want to know is whether or not you mind other people knowing that. Because, I can lie, that's not a problem but I just want to know what the protocol is for this sort of thing."

Cuddy clicked her open jaw shut with a monumental effort and leant forward onto the desk speaking very slowly and very carefully to the top of Talia's head as she was now savaging the legal pad again. "Talia…how do you know that House…is Dante?" Cuddy congratulated herself on not choking on the words as she asked.

At the moment she was feeling particularly numb. Like she was about to go into a convulsive rage but her body was experiencing the quiet before the storm.

"Some people never forget faces, I never forget voices, even through the phone, he didn't do much of a job disguising himself." Talia blinked in apparent surprise as she ripped the legal pad in half. "I mean, unless there's a clone of House walking around out there (god forbid) House and Dante are one and the same, their voices are a perfect match." Talia shrugged and lifted her head to look at Cuddy. Her jaw dropped open when she saw Cuddy's complete non-expression.

The older woman was completely frozen. Seeming to hold herself so still that it hurt. Realisation dawned on Talia like a nuclear bomb going off. "Aw crap." She leaped off the desk and backed away. "You didn't know, I mean, what's to know?" Talia backed away from the desk as Cuddy very deliberately propped her head on her hand and watched her assistant back away like she'd just transformed into a hungry lioness. "I've been wrong before, after all, sure it was only that one time but…" Talia looked helplessly at Cuddy.

"Sorry." She muttered and scrabbled her way out of the office, grabbed a pile of folders and headed to the copier room with a vengeance.

Cuddy finally let herself relax a little as it dawned on her. She let the air that had been trapped in her lungs, out on a slow shuddering breath as her fingernails dug into the wood of her desk.

How could she have been so…_STUPID?_

She scrubbed a hand over her face and resisted the extremely strong urge to scream and then head to diagnostics and make herself a new rug. She fisted her hand so hard that her nails bit into her palm.

Of course, now that she really thought about it, it was so obvious. Like looking at a vase and then suddenly seeing two faces looking at each other…Dante's and House's. Cuddy blinked as a wet sensation registered slithering over her wrist. She blinked in surprise as she realised the lurid colour was her blood. She had cut herself with her own nails.

She jerked back to reality and snatched a tissue from the box on her desk, padding the tiny wounds with it. She thought it odd how similar the shade of blood and the shade of a rose was…then thinking that it really wasn't all that odd at all.

She stood slowly and picked up her handbag, slung on her coat and left the office. She had some thinking to do.

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**_Later that night…_**

Lisa sat in the dim light of the hotel room and rubbed her fingers over the half-moon shaped cuts on the heel of her hand. Funny, she didn't feel anything, not even the pain of her hand.

She felt…angry. No, that wasn't right, she felt betrayed and hurt. He had lied to her, he had used her body and lied to her like she was nothing better than those hookers he was always joking about…the worst thing was; she had actually cared for Dante.

House…whoever.

Were they different? Had it all been a lie? What if he had really cared about her and the only way to show her was to put on a mask and tell the biggest lie yet? Was he capable of that?

Was she capable of believing him?

She turned and stared out into the setting sun, it's bloody smear on the horizon reflected into her deep blue/green eyes.

She heard the door click open behind her. Now that she was listening she could hear the third footfall of the cane, he must have hidden it in the wardrobe when they were…her mind shied away from the thought as she tightened her fingers on her arms.

She heard the wardrobe door slide shut with a muffled thump. Heard him cross the room slowly towards her. It must have hurt him, walking about without his cane. It must have been a terrible strain on him. He must have gone with so little sleep the last few days, running home between hotel stays to change back from Dante to House.

"Lisa?"

She didn't flinch when his hands rested warm and familiar on her shoulders.

"You alright?"

She didn't move as she noted how flawless the accent was. He must be fluent in Russian as well to carry it off so well. She heaved in a breath and looked up at him, into his false green eyes as he smiled down at her.

"I'm…difficult day at work." She eventually settled on.

What was she going to do?

She could accept the lie and try to regain some semblance of the happiness that she had felt in Dante's arms. Love the mask instead of the man and try to not be too proud to know that he was laughing behind her back at every opportunity or…

Or she could rip off his mask and tear him down for doing this to her and, quite possibly, never feel as good as she had felt last night ever again.

She smiled a watery smile up at him and lifted her hands to rest on his cheeks. Clean-shaven cheeks, her thumbs trailed the edge of the black mask as she ran her tongue over her lips in thought.

She must have not wanted to see it. It was so glaringly obvious, literally staring her in the face the whole time.

He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her a fraction closer. Her fingers tapped on the edge of the mask, one nail catching under the edge of it.

What was she going to do?


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Alrighty kiddies. I thought I'd take a break from the other two and try and update my older ones a little. So this and then I'm going to try and write another chappy for 'I'll Come Back'. **

**But I make no promises. **

**BTW, Prinnie, Tawny has just turned up with a rather suspicious looking body shaped parcel in the back of her Jaguar…I don't know whether to be worried or pleased but she does look awfully pleased with herself.**

**I'm not sure if I like this chapter, I feel kind of wrung out on the writing side of things…I may disappear for a while and recharge. Not for months or anything…but I might go for a holiday. **

**Um, that's it. Hit the bog ol' purple button on yer way out. **

**Chapter 5: Strong Enough**

Greg looked down at Lisa as her hands came up to cup his face. She looked intently at him as she rubbed her thumb absently against the edge of the mask. She bit her lip as if trying to decide something and Greg frowned down at her through the mask.

Something was wrong.

He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong when she moved. The pull caught him by surprise but he recovered quickly at the hot feel of her mouth against his as she tugged him down to meet her.

Her fingers thrust into his hair, mussing the carefully slicked style. His hands slid up over her spine and pulled her closer as she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

He didn't feel the hot tears that coursed down her cheeks. He didn't hear her heart breaking and he couldn't see the sharp denial behind her closed eyes.

"No!"

Greg blinked down at her as she suddenly pushed him away. He was still slightly dazed from the kiss but he recovered fairly quickly. "What is it? What's wrong?" He asked her, his voice hoarse from worry but she was already moving past him.

"Lisa?"

She slung her jacket over her shoulders and marched to the door, throwing it open and having the harsh light of the hallway spill through causing her to turn from his lover into a faceless silhouette. She turned back to him and this time he did see the moonlight reflecting off the wet tracks of the tears on her cheeks.

"What is it?" He asked her, trying to walk towards her. His leg chose that moment to fail him and he stumbled hard against the bed. She looked at him, but made no move to help him though he saw her fingers tighten on the door.

"I can't, I just…I can't." She told him and then disappeared from the doorway.

"Lisa! Damn it, come back!" He called out to her but by the time he managed to get to the doorway, she was already gone.

Cuddy bounded up the path to her house and collapsed against the doorframe. She leant against the painted front of her house and reached up to pluck the earphones from her ears. The pounding beat of the heavy metal she always ran too faded away as they dropped to hang from her neck. She rested her head against her sweat slicked arm and tried to breathe.

She had run her usual route and then run it again and then stopped by the park and done a few laps there. Her legs ached, her throat was raw, her ribs hurt, her muscles jerked every so often at the abuse of not being cooled down after the punishing work out.

She eventually managed to straighten past the stitches in her side that clawed at her ribs and push the key into the lock. She stumbled into the foyer and slammed the door shut behind herself, she collapsed against the small table and looked down dejectedly at the flashing red numbers on her answering machine.

She ignored it and padded through to the kitchen to kick off her trainers and raided the fridge for a bottle of water. She drained half of it in one gulp and then thumped it back down onto the work-top.

She picked up her trainers and threw them into the hallway closet. Moving more by automatic pilot than anything else. She went back to her water and drained the rest of it before shoving the empty bottle into the recycling.

Sweat was beginning to cool on her skin and make her clothes stick to her uncomfortably. It was easy to ignore as she stood in the middle of the kitchen and stared blankly about herself.

She'd been pretty much going on autopilot since last night. She had left the hotel room, stalked along the corridor and disappeared into the elevator. She hadn't even realised she was crying until she had seen her reflection in the mirrored walls of the elevator car. She had hurriedly swiped away her tears and reined herself in. She had taken a deep breath and then she had powered out of the elevator and through the lobby looking like the world had really get the hell out of her way. By the time she had driven home, a strange sort of numbness had stolen over her. She was cold and inert inside.

This morning she had woken up, it was her day off so she had rattled through her to do list, her urge not to think helping to speed her rate of chore. She had finished what would usually take her a day in about three hours. Then she had gone for her run for another couple of hours…the rest of the day stretched daunting before her like a long foreboding shadow. Cuddy shivered and then grimaced at the sticky feel of drying sweat on her body.

Just because her heart had been shattered was no excuse to stink.

She leaped to the stairs and then bounded up them three at a time to disappear into the bathroom. She flipped the shower on and fidgeted out of her clothes as she waited for it to heat up. Her fingers throttled each other as she tried to think of something to do with herself. Her eyes fell on the waterproof fish shaped radio that hung forgotten on her bathroom wall. It had been a stocking filler from some forgotten Christmas present but she seized it now and tuned it to a likely station. The music filled the empty room and floated down the corridors to well into the other rooms of the empty house as she tugged off the rest of her clothes and then stepped into the shower.

Lisa only half listened to the lyrics as she poured shower gel into a koosh and feverishly worked a lather over her body, trying to scrub away the treacherous thoughts before they formed.

'_Here I stand alone, with this weight upon my heart and it will not go away,_

_in my head I keep on looking back, right back to the start, _

_wondering what it was that made you change._

_Well I tried but I had to draw the line, _

_But still this question keeps on spinning in my mind." _

Lisa stared at the radio.

"_What if I had never let you go? _

_Would you be the man I used to know? _

_If I'd stayed, if you'd tried, if we could only turn back time…_

_But I guess, we'll never know, _

_We'll never know."_

Lisa turned her back on the obscenely grinning fish as if that could drown out the words. She swallowed hard as a lump formed in her throat and threatened to choke her. she lifted a hand to her mouth and held it there as she began to cry. Not the silent mournful tears of last night but great heart wrenching sobs, both for what she had found and what she had lost. Her legs folded under her and she crumpled to the floor of the shower stall as hot water streamed down and washed the tears from her face even as they fell. She cried for herself, she cried for her wounded pride, she cried for her betrayal, she cried for the loss of something so beautiful that she never thought she'd even catch a glimpse of it again…but most of all she cried for Greg, she cried for what he had lost.

Because, even as the pain cut her heart in half, Lisa knew what she had lost, she didn't think he would be able to say the same.

She let her head fall back against the slick tiled wall of the stall and wondered if he would ever know.

The next day, House sat in his office, the blinds shut, the lights off and his frame hunched forward so that he could lean his head on the handle of his cane. He bounced his forehead against the polished wound idly as he let the faint sounds of the hospital murmur around him. He heaved a sigh and didn't look up when the door from the conference room opened quietly.

Cameron stood hesitantly in the doorway. They had been through there for nearly two hours now, and he had yet to show his face. Unsurprisingly, her esteemed colleagues had voted her to go through and find out what kind of thorn was in the lion's paw today.

She stood there a moment, waiting to see if he'd at least look up at her.

He didn't.

"Uh…House? We're kind of supposed to be diagnosing a patient through here." She jerked her thumb back towards the conference room.

He grunted once but didn't move.

She waited a few moments more before daring to speak again. "House? You coming?"

He looked up at her and sighed as he stared at her. Cameron blinked at the raw emotion she glimpsed in his eyes before the shutters slammed down. He appeared to think for a moment. "Test for Lupus." He told her.

"Lupus? I thought we said earlier…"

"Listen to what I'm saying _now_. Test. For. Lupus." He gritted out and then dropped his head back to his cane to spin it lightly between his fingers.

"Alright, fine, test for Lupus." She agreed but didn't move as she continued to watch him. "Are you…?" She began hesitantly.

"No. Now go away." His voice was harsh and brooked no argument. She turned abruptly and swished the door shut behind her.

Cameron turned to Chase and Foreman and gusted out a long breath. The last time he had been anywhere near like that was when Stacy had left. She told the other two about the Lupus test and then wandered off to find Wilson. Maybe he knew what was wrong with House.

House hauled himself out his chair and limped out onto the balcony. The wind was cold as it tugged at his hair and pulled at his jacket. He scowled and pulled his jacket closer about himself. It was a curious thing, he supposed, this gaping hole where his heart had been not twenty four hours previously.

He hadn't even realised why it had meant so much to him that Lisa came around and saw him, even as Dante. He had worn a mask and he had dressed and spoken differently and even worn contact lenses to change the colour of his eyes just so that she woud spend a little time with him.

He hadn't intended for it to happen, he hadn't meant to carry on past that first night, he hadn't meant to come to care for her this much.

No, that was crap.

He had always cared for her. he had always wanted her on some level. Behind all those snide comments, leering looks and hot denials about liking her…

House turned as the door opened behind him. He frowned down at the little pet Goth that Cuddy was keeping outside her office these days. What was the name again?

Talia, that was it.

'Um, Dr House?' She started hesitantly, wringing her fingers together nervously in her black lace fingerless gloves. He had to admit, the kid had a certain way about her.

'Dr Cuddy wants you to do your clinic hours.' She was silent a beat further. 'Now.'

'Cuddy sent you all the way up here to tell me that?'

'No…no, I volunteered to come.' Talia said and looked like she wanted to say something else but couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

'Listen, kid, whatever it is you want to say, don't worry about offending me. I assure you, I've probably dealt with worse things than you can dream up.'

'Right.' Talia seemed to realise one hand was still trying to throttle the other and abruptly shoved them behind her back. 'It's just that…Dr Cuddy…um, this is difficult.' Talia began to pace back and forth.

House watched her getting further and further into cluelessness with ever step she took. 'Do I have to guess? Because if this is a guessing game, I'm really not in the mood.'

'Why did you sleep with Dr Cuddy and not tell her it was you?' She finally blurted.

House went completely still. 'You…' He quickly checked to make sure that Wilson or anyone else wasn't likely to come out onto the balcony and interrupt this. 'You knew?'

'Of course I knew!' She hissed. 'You called reception to arrange dinner and I recognised your voice and I thought it was just some weird game that you two were playing, because I've gotta tell you, I've seen weirder, but then I asked Dr Cuddy about whether or not she wanted me to lie about what I knew was going on and then I found out that _she_ didn't know what was going on and then she sort of went…still and then she left for dinner with you on Friday night and didn't come in on Saturday or Sunday either which I suppose is okay because they were her days off anyway even though every other week she comes in on her days off and then it gets to Monday, today and she doesn't come in she just phones and leaves a list of instructions which is _really_ weird because she's a workaholic and I was just wondering if there was a good reason for what you did or if you were just being a jerk.' Talia finished and sucked in a breath.

House blinked down at her, he hadn't thought it possible for such a small body to draw in enough air and say that much in one breath. 'Why do you need to know?'

'Because if you were being a jerk then she's better off without you, even though she's hurting now, but if you actually care about her and there was a good reason for it and I've screwed up something really special then I need to know so I can fix the karma.' Talia expelled in another rush of words and House had to wait for his brain to catch up again.

'You told her who I was? Well, not me, but you told her that Dante was me?'

Talia took another deep breath and then exhaled on a gusty sigh before nodding.

'Right.' House nodded and headed for the door before stopping and turning back to Talia. 'Did she sound upset on the phone.'

'If you mean did she sound like she'd been in the shower balling her eyes out the entire weekend then…yeah. Sort of.' Talia worried her lip between her teeth.

House nodded and his grip tightened on the door as his brain raced. It was going to have to be something spectacular in order to get her to even speak to him. He looked at Talia and waved his hand. 'I hereby resolve you of all karmic responsibility to this matter.'

Then he was gone.

Talia stood there a moment longer and jumped when Wilson stood up from behind the wall.

'House was sleeping with Cuddy?'

Talia's eyes widened. They really hadn't covered this in her office politics seminar.

'And she didn't know?!' Chase demanded as he, Foreman and Cameron stepped through from the briefing room.

Talia stared heaven wards. Sometimes she really did have the feeling that the universe hated her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, kiddie-winks, here I am!!! I've actually been busy writing my soon-to-be-famous (hopefully) novel at the moment and then I hit a bit of a snag because I've not actually done the research I was supposed to. **

**Ah well, that's what Wkikpedia is for, right? **

**Anyway, anyway, anyway, here we are with the final chappie of this here fanfic. I think it ends a little suddenly but this was never intended to go beyond chapter one so you actually got a hell of a lot more than I meant to dish out. **

**So, no whinging!**

**STILL the Harry Potter people won't review. Cheese, what do I have to do to get them to hit the purple button around here (well, not really around here, because you guys are obviously all fabulous and review every single chappie that I churn out mwah kisses)?**

**WEEEEEE!!! CSI season 7!!! Started tonight and GUH!! With the implosions and drugging and the insanely cute Grissom/Sara moments. Say it with me now, AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!**

**Okay, too much apple juice, I'm so twitchy tweaky nyah-hah! (technical term) **

**Anyway, read, review and I might even be persuaded to do an epilogue. **

**But only if asked REALLY nicely ;)**

**Chapter 6: Taking Off the Masks**

House swung himself out of the corvette and limped up the path. He tilted the flower pot and snagged the key out from under it. He mentally reminded himself to tell her to move the damn thing as he shoved it into the lock and twisted it. The door swung inward to reveal a dim hallway. House cautiously crept inside and shut the door, clicking the lock over as he did so. His mouth was suddenly dry as he limped over the polished hardwood floors of her house. He considered calling out to her but changed his mind.

He might have thought she was out had he not seen her car parked in the driveway.

He considered the stairs and was about to begin the torturous process of hauling himself up when a voice issued from the darkness.

'I wouldn't, if I were you, you'll just strain your leg.'

House whirled as a lamp snapped on to reveal Cuddy curled up on the couch, her legs folded neatly under her. Her hair was wet and tumbling down her back in shining unruly curls, she was dressed simply in sweats and a tumbler of whisky was balanced on one knee as she watched him with bright blue eyes that looked slightly red-rimmed.

'I was wondering when you might show your face.' She noted idly as she sipped her whisky.

'Jesus, Cuddy, you scared the crap out of me. What are you doing sitting in the dark?' House decided not to mention that he had been doing exactly the same thing at the hospital.

'Mourning.' She said simply as she sipped her drink again. She watched him the entire time and House had to admit that he found it a little disconcerting. That gimlet stare directed at him, nothing like the annoyed or irritated glares that she usually shot his way at work.

'What have you got to mourn?' House asked as he limped into the room and stood opposite her.

'What indeed?' She swirled her glass as she narrowed her eyes at him slightly. 'You hurt me, House.' Her voice was quiet, any trace of game gone from it.

House would have much preferred shouting. Her rage was infinitely better than her sorrow. He turned his head away from her as he bounced his cane between his hands. Its rhythmic thumping against the floor was the only sound in the room.

'How could I have hurt you?' His voice was slightly hoarse. He looked up to see her genuine frown of confusion. 'You weren't sleeping with me, you were sleeping with someone entirely different. Someone rich, cultured and slick. Someone you could like.'

'Someone I could love? Was that your plan? Make me fall for you and then turn around and rub my face in it? I knew you were callus, House, but I never knew you were cruel.' She snapped at him and her knuckles whitened on her glass.

'Did you?' He demanded and elaborated as she frowned at him again. 'Did you fall in love with him?'

It was her turn to look away from him. She looked back at him suddenly, her hair swinging. A savage smile on her lips. 'And if I did?' She pressed her lips tightly together and forced herself to continue. When she did her voice was barely above a whisper. 'If I did fall for him, for you, what am I going to do about it?' the question hung in the air a moment. 'What are you going to do about it?'

His grip tightened on his cane. It struck him then, the insanity of the moment. He was probably having the most adult conversation in his life right at this very moment and she was half drunk and he couldn't screw up the courage to speak.

'We could start over.' He heard the words and was mildly surprised when he realised that they had issued from his mouth.

'Start over?'

'Yeah. Just you and me, no more masks, no more lies.' His hand actually hurt from holding onto the cane so tightly, it felt like his entire life hinged on what she might say next. His next breath was reliant on the next words that came from her mouth.

She watched him a moment before swirling her glass once more and draining the contents. 'Everybody lies.' She said calmly as she watched him.

'I don't think what I'm feeling right now is a lie.' He contradicted her.

'Really?' She tilted her head to the side as if a new angle would help her see what he was thinking. 'And what exactly are you feeling at the moment?'

House sat for a moment and mulled it over.

'If you can't even say it, how am I ever supposed to believe you?' She said quietly and rose to her feet, she moved to walk past him and his hand whipped out and his fingers circled her wrist.

'Don't go.' His voice sounded harsh in his near desperation.

'This is my house, I'm not going anywhere.' She told him, looking down at him through dark hair that had swung down over her eyes. 'Tell me.' She said simply.

'I feel…' House trailed off, where to start? 'I feel terrified.'

She frowned at that. 'Terrified?'

'Yeah, terrified that I've found something fantastic, and I may not have gone about it the right way and I may have screwed up in an immeasurably fantastic fashion, but I'm terrified that I'm going to lose it, now that I've just realised what it is.'

He saw her swallow hard and continued now that he'd started. Still holding onto her wrist like a lifeline and still staring up at her willing her to see what he couldn't quite bring himself to say.

'And what is it?' She was ruthless but she had to know, she wouldn't settle for anything less than everything.

'I…don't feel regret.'

Her brows snapped together and he hurried to explain. 'Because I got to be with you, I got to hear what your real laugh is like, I got to see how cute you are when you're asleep and I got to feel how fantastic it is to be with someone when they really love you.' He stood slowly and swiped the tear away from her face as it fell down the curve of her cheek. He smoothed her hair back and lifted her chin with one finger. 'I got to feel what it's like to really…' He looked down at her and hardened his jaw.

WHY was this so hard?

'Really what?' She wasn't giving up on this. She refused.

'Really love you. After twenty years of standing on the sidelines and settling for less I finally got to have you and I finally got to love you.' He said it slowly and it became easier the more he spoke. His chest heaved as something swelled inside it, either he finally realised what he was feeling or his heart was about to explode, either way, he figured he'd die happy.

'I just saw you, that night, and you were so beautiful. Then you didn't recognise me and before I knew it I was getting you drunk and dragging you up the stairs…I'm not sorry by the way.' He told her as she gave him a watery smile.

'I wouldn't expect any less.' She smiled more strongly now. Her hand rested on his chest right over his heart. 'It's kind of shocking, isn't it?'

'What is?' he settled his hands on her hips and tugged her a little closer.

'That after all this time, we finally figured out what's between us. I gotta tell you, it certainly knocked me for six.' She tilted her head towards him and he lowered his lips to within a breath of hers.

'So, will you try with me?'

'With you?'

'Well, I'm not bringing Dante out again.' He told her on no uncertain terms.

'Not even for special occasions?' She teased him lightly as his lips brushed hers.

'Maybe if you ask real nice…' His lips found hers and he wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her closer for a searing kiss. His hands slid under her sweats top and he discovered that she was wearing very little underneath. He smirked as he toppled backwards onto the couch, pulling her with him so that she sprawled on top of him. She laughed against his lips as he kissed her hard.

It was amazing how much better it was when it was just him and Lisa, no lies, no masks and no disguises.

The mask was finally off and, even if it was only when they were alone, it was staying off forever.

_The End_


End file.
